AMERIKATSI
AMERIKATSI
Trailer
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Soviet Union invited Armenians exiled in the United States to return to their homeland and assist in the construction of a “new Armenia”. 313 "Amerikatsi" followed this call; most of them subsequently ended up in prison as alleged spies or "cosmopolitans". This is also the fate that befalls genocide survivor Charlie, the hero of this film. Not even his acquaintance with the wife of a high-ranking Red Army officer can save him from ending up behind bars. He serves a ten-year sentence spent between the Friday beatings in Ponchik’s torture cell and longing glances at the apartment opposite. The latter is the home of Tigran; no longer allowed to work as a painter because he has painted too many churches, he now makes ends meet as a prison guard and lives there together with his wife. Charlie shares in their lives, loves, passions, family celebrations and marital disputes as a third man. From the window of his prison cell he is merely an observer and yet still in the middle of it all.
It is thus that the years pass, between prison tyranny and an imagined home, Charlie is witness to affection and arguments, opulent parties and loneliness. A tragicomedy that makes only minimal use of the spoken word yet takes the power mechanisms of the Stalinist Soviet Union seriously enough to avoid slipping into escapist kitsch. The director himself plays the lead role and does so brilliantly.
Text: Bernd Buder
08.11.2024 | 19:00 | Stadhalle (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)
09.11.2024 | 13:00 | Kammerbühne (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)
Michael A. Goorjian
Ghasem Ebrahimian
Andranik Berberyan
Michael A. Goorjian, Hovik Keuchkerian, Nelli Uvarova, Mikhail Trukhin, Narina Grigoryan, Jaen-Pierre Nshanian
Michael A. Goorjian - Michael Goorjian is an Emmy Award winning actor, writer, and filmmaker of Armeniandecent, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Michael won the Emmy for BestSupporting Actor in David’s Mother alongside Kirstie Alley. He is also well known forplaying Neve Campbell’s love interest, Justin, on the Golden Globe winning seriesParty of Five, as well as Heroin Bob in the cult classic SLC Punk. Recently he starredalongside Robert De Niro in HBO’s The Wizard of Lies. Other film & television creditsinclude: Newsies, Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr., Forever Young with Mel Gibson,Leaving Las Vegas, Hard Rain with Morgan Freeman, Broken with Heather Graham,Lucifer, Covert Affairs, Lie to Me, House, Alias, Monk, and CSI to name a few.As a director, Michael achieved international acclaim for his award-winning feature filmdebut, Illusion, in which he starred along side Hollywood-legend Kirk Douglas. Soonafter, Michael began collaborating with the publishing company Hay House to helm anumber of productions, including; the documentary You Can Heal Your Life staringLouise L. Hay, The Shift starring Wayne Dyer and the Limited Series Tales of EverydayMagic. Michael’s most recent film, Amerikatsi was shot in Armenia in 2020. It has wonover 10 awards at recent film festivals, including the Grand Jury Prize for BestNarrative Feature at the Woodstock Film Festival, the Audience Award at theHamburg Film Festival. Amerikatsi is set to be released in theaters in 2023.